Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas has said there needs to be a reframing of the party and that it needs to promote “green hedonism”.

Too often she said the party was seen in terms of “sacrifice”.

She added that the party’s image should not be one of stringent sacrifice but instead offer a path to “a better quality of life” adding that she is by no means able to live a thoroughly “green” life.

Green hedonism

“Sometimes it is not a big step away from the purist Green Party to the hair shirt-shivering-around-a-candle-in-a-cave- party,” she told the Politics Festival at Kings Place in London of which iis the official media partner.

“I am not that. What I want to talk about is Green hedonism. A greener society or economy is not about sacrifice but it is actually about a better quality of life.

‘Compromised’

“I live a horribly compromised life,” she said. “It is important not to criticise people for decisions they make instead of choosing the other thing that would cost three/four times more.

“We are not going to lecture people about the decisions they make. I am sure you would have a field day if you came to my house: am I using the right light bulbs?”

Virtue test

She said some people felt “not good enough” to join the Green Party as if they had to “pass some virtue test”.

“I think sometimes we have been guilty of giving that impression,” she admitted. “That is not helpful and that is not we are about.”

“If government has in place different policies all of us could make better decisions, we could all live more green lives,” she said.

She quoted one of her favourite cartoons where one character says ‘what if climate change is a hoax and we have created a better world for no reason?’

Quality of life

“It is about a better way of living,” she said.”No one comes to the end of their life and they wished they had spent more time in the office. I am proud that the Green Party is talking about quality of life issues.”

Jeremy Corbyn

She admitted that despite knowing Jeremy Corbyn well, once he became leader it became more difficult to get in touch with him.

“I have to say since he became leader I have one formal meeting and that took over a year to achieve,” she said. “I would love to know why, it shouldn’t take that long. I did try quite a lot of different routes.

“I was disappointed by that because there were some issues like progressive alliances which I think it would have been at least in his interests to have had a bit earlier.”

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